Family Adventures: Time Travel

Family Adventures

Now is a wonderful time to go for a walk in the woods. The air is refreshingly brisk. How about a walk in Williamsburg, in the woods once enjoyed by a rich man?

When John D. Rockefeller Jr. visited Williamsburg, which his money helped to restore to its 18th-century appearance, he stayed in Bassett Hall, his home on Francis Street at the edge of town. Behind it is a tract of 585 acres of rolling woodland which the Rockefeller family gave to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. A few years ago CW woodsmen cleared a nature trail through the Bassett woodland, a trail that is open to the public, yet on most days offers the prospect of a solitary, soul-restoring ramble. The inclines are not especially steep and won't slow down most grandparents. The vistas are pleasant.

Along the way the trial crosses a mill dam, which creates a small lake where Rockefeller built a boat shed, which stands empty. He wasn't much into fishing, but liked to paddle around.

The trail is about a mile and a quarter to the turn-around point, which is the clubhouse for the Green Golf Course of the Williamsburg Inn. And if you don't stop there, it takes about an hour to complete.

Bassett Trail begins and ends, not at Bassett Hall, but nearby at the far eastern side of the Providence Hall guest quarters associated with the Williamsburg Inn. Locating the starting point can be a little tricky, but it is clearly marked. To get there, turn off Francis Street at the narrow roadway marked "Bucktrout." A large locator sign for "Colonial Houses" is at the intersection. Where a directional sign indicates a lefthand turn to the "Directors Wing," take that left. Go down this driveway, keeping the tennis courts on your right, to the parking area at the end. There you will begin to see the yellow diamond-shaped trail markers.